Lay Down Harry
by Tom Kristal
Summary: Post DH . Ginny decides to visit Harry at work and finds out about Harry's new nickname. H/G
1. Chapter 1

**Lay-Down-Harry**

_By Tom Kristal_

_

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_**Standard Disclaimer: **All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) and are in no way connected with J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing or Warner Bros. The author of the following FanFiction does not in any way profit from the story and it is written solely for entertainment purposes only. Associated names, characters, places, items, and descriptions used in the following FanFiction are the copyrights and/or trademarks of the rightful owners. Rights to characters and their settings is neither claimed nor implied.

**Plot Summary:** _(Post DH). Ginny decides to visit Harry at work and finds out about Harry's new nickname. _H/G  
**Rating:** (T)

**Author Notes: **Surprisingly, this was a really hard story to write. I got this story idea ages ago and fell into something best described as writers-block. It all started whilst listening to some Eric Clapton (You'll figure it out why later). A crazy idea turned into a paragraph, and the next thing you know, I've got this story for all you lovely people. Hopefully with this out of the way, I'll be able to work on a few new storylines I've got on the backburner.

Special consideration and thanks to _'XTimeGirlX'_ who has taken the time to Beta this story for me – to make up for my deplorable grammar skills. Trust me, they are bad.

Enough said, please enjoy.

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**Lay-Down-Harry: **Chapter I**  
**

_'Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business'._

In an old secluded alley, within a part of the 'forgotten' district of downtown London, stood an abandoned red phone box. Its worn down look was highlighted by the numerous gouge marks to its sides, and the heavily graffiti spoiled surface only showed a hint of its once pristine red appearance between the multitude of scribbles. Several panes of glass were missing from its doors, many of them still remaining on the floor in smashed fragments, scattered amongst the foul stench of garbage and cat excrement. On the front was an _'Out of Order'_ sign printed across the telephone apparatus which was crooked to the point of nearly falling off.

Despite this dingy appearance, by most people whom roamed amongst the pubs and offices of that neighbourhood, it was quite a common occurrence to see strangely dressed individuals wearing robes converse at this particular location. And once again on this afternoon, it was another unusual sight to see a woman sitting inside the telephone box, leaning up against the telephone apparatus as she held the telephone receiver upside down.

The woman had a petite figure with vivid red hair that spread down her back in long waves. She had bright brown eyes that seemed to only contrast the besmirched appearance in and around the telephone box. Although she appeared to often have a mischievous smirk, her eyes shone with a fierceness that hinted that she was a woman not to be messed with on a bad day. That only extenuated her high cheekbones and luscious lips that glimmered aristocracy in time lost eons ago. She wore a long brown overcoat that cascaded down to her ankles and covered her tight fitting jeans and jumper. She had a bright emerald scarf wrapped around her neck that attempted to take the bite out of the bitter weather; which coincidently only brought more attention to her beautiful face.

Dropping the receiver back into place, the woman spoke loudly to the cool voice, her face pivoting around the booth so as to determine where to speak to.

'Ginny Weasley. Planning to visit the Auror's department to find my 'boyfriend' Harry Potter, take him to closest broom closet I can find and snog him senseless. That's before...'

_'Thank you,'_ overrided the cool female voice.

_'Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes.'_

There was a click and a rattle, and out of the metal coin chute, a badge automatically appeared. She picked it up and smirked at the silver badge with the inscription _'Ginny Weasley: Sexual Deviant' _written on it. She quickly pinned it underneath her overcoat before the voice spoke again.

_'Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium.'_

The floor of the telephone box shuddered and slowly the telephone box descended unnoticed into the golden atrium of the 'Ministry of Magic'. Once stopped, the cool monotone voice echoed from within the old, shabby-looking telephone box, now particularly looking out of place amongst the fine furnishings of the atrium.

'_The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day.'_

The door of the telephone box sprang open and Ginny stepped out, observing her surroundings. Although she had been here numerous times before, it was still an impressive sight to see. She was standing at the end of a very long hall, laced with polished dark wood that covered the floor and walls. Along the walls littered black marble fireplaces that were constantly being used by lines of patrons and employees in flames of green light. An impressive blue ceiling stood menacingly above her with mystical golden symbols warping and changing across its surface.

Despite the obvious similarities to the Ministry of her childhood, there was now one thing that had changed. Halfway down the hall, there was no longer a golden fountain filled with life-sized statues of wizards and magical creatures in their silly positions. Nor was there the rumoured giant black statue that positioned a throne witch and wizard looking benevolently at their minions. The infamous statue that stood during Voldemort's rein had since been removed and destroyed when the ministry was reclaimed two days after the final battle.

What stood there now was an impressive-looking monolith that towered over the heads of the passersby. Its pure white marble makeup seemed to glimmer spectacularly in the dark atrium. Rising to over twenty feet, its five-sided design towered over all. On each side of the monolith, names were listed for all those who died in the war; from all species and both wars, even from both sides. From what was known about this monolith, the stone structure itself had been specifically charmed to automatically translate the engraved text for all visiting creatures and nationalities, without prejudice to humans, goblins, centaur or any other language known to the Wizarding world. With careful consideration, no one was left out. Even Fred and her uncles Fabian and Gideon were included in its design.

Surrounding the monolith, a shallow pond was imbedded around its base; its shimmering reflections seeming to sparkle against the ominous darkness of the atrium. Looking closely, hundreds of galleons, and sickles were scattered everywhere along the bottom of the pond in respect for the St. Mungo's Hospital. The fountain occasionally spurted strings of water in numerous directions around the interior of the pond. In a complex array of directions it splashed in and out of the water, yet strangely never made a violent splash nor wet any unsuspecting passersby. Finally, at the front of the stone monolith, a neat inscription was boldly written out, quoting:

_

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_

_We meet here, to honour the heroism, tenacity, and resilience of that group of magical beings who fought in a campaign to end this world of hate and bigotry. They fought at Hogwarts, on battlefields, on the streets and in our very homes._

_They fought not for their ideals, or hatred of those perceived beneath them, but for what true love can offer. Their love transcended blood, transcended the norms of tradition – and in the end, conquered all that stood in its path._

_In the end; their spirit not only ensured the survival of our magical world, but of its very soul._

_We must not ever forget, what that spirit demanded; or the lives that were given in the name of our society._

_We must resolve anew that we will make this Great Britain, into a country worthy of their sacrifice._

_My generation and those before me knew what it was like; what demands were made._

_And we know in our bones how easily it could happen again, and how quickly the situation could arise - and how suddenly our society could be at the mercy of another aggressor; proclaiming the same hate. And then, if we treasure our freedom, our civil liberties, and our free speech - our very lives, in fact - then we will all need that spirit. We must never let it die._

_Lest we forget._

_**Harry James Potter**_

_Order of Merlin, 1__st__ Class_

_Hogwarts commemorative speech, _

_**May 2**__**nd**__**, 1999**_

_

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_

Unlike the other two designs before it, this was truly a structure to be proud of. It was a continued remembrance of what was lost and what was gained. A monument to represent the remembrance of the past and a determined hope for the future; to never forget what can be lost in following the 'easy' path. The other two couldn't dream to compare against this. The original construct by her memory was condescending to the extreme; and the second one showed the true insanity of a man, who in reality never knew what true power was. She was proud of this structure. Even more so, it was Harry, _her_ Harry who had a personal say in the final design of the monolith; after much debate over its existence.

Ignoring the continual flow of ministry workers with their glum faces, Ginny strode onwards towards a set of golden gates at the far end of the hall to meet the man at the visitor security booth; along the far left of the corridor stood a menacing looking timber desk, with bars protruding from its front. As well as the front, the bars continued to completely encase the shabby-looking attendant safely inside a cage-like structure. The small man with the peacock blue robes looked thoroughly bored with himself. The Daily Prophet was sitting ruffled and disregarded to the left of him. He tiredly held his face with his hands, his elbows supporting his slouched form on the table. He was so bored in fact, that he was ignoring everyone else entirely.

'Excuse me' Ginny said.

The 'cage-man' was apparently unfazed by her interruption and continued to look lazily up at nothing in particular.

'Excuse me...' Ginny tried again to no avail.

Unknown to this man, it was not the brightest of ideas to infuriate a Weasley. Having nothing of it therefore, she took matters into her own hands. With a swish of her wrist, her wand was pointed directly at her throat where she commanded in a high pitch tone.

'EXCUSE ME!'

At that moment, the man finally took notice; a little more than notice actually. Jumping immediately out of his daze, in shock he sat up from his chair to knock himself up on the top of the magically reinforced cage. With another loud crash, the man stumbled down headfirst onto his desk and then violently crashed back onto the floor in a crumpled heap.

Feeling a little dazed herself, she tried her best to look a little sheepish as she gazed around to see if anyone had noticed. To her chagrin, almost everyone within her near facility had suddenly stopped and was gazing menacingly at the mean little redhead abusing the ministry worker. Muttering amongst the crowd, some muttering cat calls; some mentioning the disrespect of youth nowadays; and one small woman in bright lime-green robes proclaimed loudly that obviously the fame had gotten to her head.

'Well what!?' grunted the shabby-looking man.

Turning back around and ignoring the annoying glares, she eyed him looking at her with sheer irritation and dislike. _It wasn't my fault he wasn't paying attention_, she thought.

'Well... this is security right?' she tried to say in the nicest tone possible.

'Obviously, by the sign!' he spat out sarcastically, pointing down at the edge of the table to a sign that said 'Security' on the front. Feeling her old Weasley anger erupting within her again, she tried her best to will her next words into something friendly and sincere. She had to come back to the ministry after all.

'Well… I'm a visitor'.

'And...' he said again in that continued sarcastic tone that seemed to drum directly into her skull. If it hadn't been for the bald head and monkey-like features, she could have sworn that this was somehow Snape's spawn coming back for revenge.

'Well isn't there something you should be doing?!' she spat back at him. The man immediately jumped away in fright. She grinned internally. Probably not such a big man behind those bars she thought smugly to herself. Scared of a little girl with a 'Sonorous' charm after all.

'Fine then...' he replied shakily. He slowly slumped back into his desk somewhat more sadistic as he looked at her wand, 'step over here and present your wand'.

Knowing it wasn't procedure to give the wand first she chose to ignore it out of truce and placed the wand in a small lidded glass box at front of the Table.

Once sealed, the glass box flashed a bright yellow colour, hiding her wand from view. Curiously looking at the flashing box, she failed to realize at the last minute that the creepy 'cage-man' had escaped from his enclosure and was approaching her rather giddily with a long golden rod. If she wasn't impressed with the man before, she certainly wasn't now. Barley above Ginny's height, his severely crushed blue robes only highlighted an unimpressive looking man with a bald head and yellow teeth.

Hoping for all this to be over soon, she hesitantly allowed him to slowly wave the golden rod up and around her body, a few apologies being made for poking her 'accidentally' a few times. She smelled the air a little and her nose frowned in a scuff at the foul smell emanating from him. Looking smug with himself, the man finally finished and quickly strode back to his desk and behind the bars once more with the bar in his hand.

The man pulled out her wand from the box and dropped it on to a small brass scale to watch it vibrate and produce a narrow strip of parchment out of a slit in the base. The man tore this off and read the writing on it.

'Ten inches, Griffin-feather core, has been in use for four years. That correct?'

'Yes,' said Ginny.

'I keep this,' said the man, impaling the slip of parchment on a small brass spike. 'You get this back,' he added, thrusting the wand at Ginny.

'Thank you.'

Relieved to have finally left that all behind her, she proceeded to walk away.

'Hang on...' said the 'cage-man' slowly. _Oh crap, what have I done now?_ She thought. Turning around, she watched his eyes dart along her body and onto her chest. She almost would blush if she hadn't wanted to suddenly strangle the life out of this man. 'Where is your badge?' he questioned suspiciously.

_Shite. _

'Ahh... it's under my clothes...' she replied, not wanting to get into the full explanation. _God, why did I have to deal with this prat today of all days?_

'All visitors must have their badge on display at all times while within the walls of the ministry' he explained in that slow drawl of his.

'Oh yes of course... but come on...' looking at his name badge for the first time '…Eric. No-one really follows that procedure' she explained. 'I have the badge on me; if someone wants to see it, then they can just ask'.

'ALL members of the general public MUST have their badges on display at all times' he said again, sitting back on his chair with a look of glee in his face.

Feeling embarrassed and furious at the man before her, who suddenly reminded her of a prat-Percy, she hesitantly clipped the badge off her inside robe and moved it somewhere as inconspicuous at possible.

'In full view madam' Eric added.

Feeling more blood rise to her eyes; if looks could kill he would be spawned out on the ground convulsing. Most reluctantly, she placed her badge on the front of her coat in full view. Eyeing her in deep satisfaction, he moved his gaze downwards and towards her now visible badge. His eyes opened wide in shock at the nametag that showed him exactly what she had been hiding.

For a moment, all else seemed to fade at the incredulous look he was giving her, not to mention the peeking onlookers of the crowd not so silently murmuring about what was written on the badge. When Eric finally got his composure back, he eyed her again in deep satisfaction of a job well done. This was probably the most exciting thing to happen to him all day.

'Move along, Miss Weasley. I don't have all day'.

Wanting noting more than to be arrested for the crime she wanted to commit to the prat, she turned on her heel and without a backward glance, strode her way past the crowd and towards the elevators.

'Harry better be in today' she muttered.

Passing through the stream of now moving wizards, she continued to avoid eye contact as they jostled her from side to side. Some were trying their best to stare at her badge; some were just checking her out.

oOoOoOoOo

_'Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the_

_Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot_

_Administration Services.'_

Ginny had finally made it down the six levels to her destination, which by any accounts were probably the longest six floors of her life. Beyond the staring of onlookers who were most likely simply mesmerized by the actions she had performed just recently on an unsuspecting worker, others were conspicuously staring at her revealing blouse and then to her badge that had made many males on her elevator lick their lips with lust.

Fortunately, before anyone had the inclination to try and jump her, she gave them all a nasty stare which made them all step back in fright and leave her alone for the rest of the journey. One almost had the nerve to approach her, but once she put on the Weasley charm, AKA Weasley-death-stare, the rest quickly fell into line.

For the rest of the trip she was left alone and she looked blankly ahead of her at the back, trying to avoid the continued casual stares. Beyond that, what she saw was quite interesting. She was always amused at the interactions that happened in the ministry elevators. From when she was a little girl she was always fascinated by the strange men that came through each department. With her father, she would always casually attempt to listen into what was being said. That part of her had fortunately never left her as an adult. Some would say it was sneaky and rude to eavesdrop on people in such a way, but to her it was quite fascinating.

One pair of gossiping workers for example in bright blue overalls were avidly discussing the behaviours of their children, who had been caught three times in a row attempting to break into their Firewhisky cabinet. One man from the Creature-Liaison office was carrying in a wooden cage what could only be described as an invisible cat that was constantly popping in and out of sight; the only thing that could be seen regardless were its bright violet eyes and its unnaturally white teeth that appeared to be capped. There was another man with a large broken nose that was complaining to another skinny individual about how someone from the 7th floor had recently pranked the ministry by charming some of the message planes to unceremoniously take kamikaze dives at unsuspecting workers instead of delivering mail.

So consumed in the conversation around her, she almost missed the floor she was trying to get to. Startled out of her trance, she immediately stepped forward and quickly pushed herself through the crowd and of the elevator; ignoring the annoyed glances given to her.

She stepped out onto the foyer of the Auror division and quickly scoped her surroundings. Passing down into a corridor lined with doors, she looked across the enchanted windows to see the beautiful scenery of outside London basked with sunlight. Although she knew personally that on this cool autumn's day it was in fact a freezing mid afternoon, she couldn't help ignore the streams of artificial sunlight that glistened on her as she made her way down.

Turning the final corner, she walked through a pair of heavy oak doors and emerged in a cluttered open area divided into cubicles. Finally she had arrived: 'The Auror Headquarters'. As usual, the constant sounds of chatter and scratched parchment filled the air. Paper airplanes zoomed across the room between cubicles in a fashion worthy of air traffic control. Posters of wanted signs, Quidditch posters, articles from the _Daily Prophet_ and other miscellaneous items were scattered across the walls and inside each cubicle to show the characteristics and home life of each Auror.

The constant buzzing and shenanigans of the room had her almost completely distracted until a loud booming voice echoed from behind her.

'Can I help you there little miss?'

Looking behind her, there was a man with broad shoulders and thick muscular arms that reminded her of tree branches. Although he appeared to be only a few years older than her, he ironically had an innocent looking baby face that made him look like an overgrown eight year old in Auror robes. He had short dirty blonde hair and greenish-blue eyes that almost looked like a light aqua. And yet, despite his childlike appearance, there was still a hint of danger to him that made her not want to approach this guy in a dark alley somewhere.

At the Moment though, any insight into this mystery was pushed aside by the audacity of this man; who with a lustful smirk on his face was looking down at her visitor's badge. The moment she recognised this, she immediately glared a death stare at the man that could end a blizzard. Completely undeterred by Ginny's ministrations, he continued to stare at her badge before slowly lifting his eyes across her chest area and on to her face.

Silently fuming, her internal monologue was simultaneously willing the slow and painful death of another familiar raven haired man who had put her in this predicament. Ever since Ginny started making time to visit Harry on a regular basis, they had made it a challenge for themselves to see how outrageous the visitor's badges could get. Though this time, she had the sneaking suspicion that Harry had a part to play in the latest situation. _He is so going to pay for this later,_ she thought.

But before she got the chance to reprimand this man, he immediately cut her off.

'Wait a second will you?' he paused and looked to the side of her. 'They'll be time for introductions later… and hopefully' he winked 'some sex...'

'What?!' she croaked, taken aback. But he quickly walled to the man a few feet from her before she had the chance to give him a scolding worthy of her mother.

'Hey Wilson!' he called out to a thin straggly man walking on the other side of the hall, carrying a large stack of paperwork and wearing a permanent looking scowl on his face.

'Anything the matter, Mr. Aidan?'

'Don't you play all innocent with me' he reprimanded playfully, 'what did I tell you about putting that report on my desk?'

'That it was superficies and a complete waste of your time'.

'Close, but I think I specifically said don't'.

The thin straggly man took a deep sigh and carefully placed his mounting paperwork on a desk to the side of him. Looking a little more exasperated, he continued. 'I had no choice Mr. Aidan, some people from higher management are starting to feel that your unique style of report writing doesn't quite meet ministry standards'.

Dramatically, he raised his right hand to his chest. 'Impossible, my reports are immaculate works of perfection'.

'Oh really?' the other man furrowed his brow in mock amusement.

'Let's have a look then', at this then he began lifting through a few of his files to get the specific document.

'Ah-hem' he croaked,

'…_went to Diagon Alley (STOP)_

_Found strange-looking guy with funny glasses stealing POTION'S… (STOP)_

_Fell to ground with Stupefy curse... (STOP)_

_Funny looking bad guy went down…'_

After reading this out loud, he raised his eyebrow in amusement. 'Yes, I can see. Words of Shakespeare these are'.

'So? What's wrong with that?! Haven't you ever heard the expression - LESS is more?'

Even Ginny couldn't help but snort.

'What's wrong with it, Mr. Aidan?! The grammar is appalling, that's what's wrong with it' he croaked indignantly. 'My six-year-old daughter could write better than this'.

'That harsh'.

'That's nothing compared to the reprimand you'll get if you don't correct this in the manner you should have done in the first place. I suggest you get started on them, sooner rather than later...'

After several wild nods and hand gestures and high pitched voices, she restrained herself from staring incredulously at the men arguing and proceeded to look around.

As usual, things were in organized chaos. From the many times she had been here before, she fleetingly saw some people she recognised, but many others that she didn't.

She remembered all the times when she was here as a little girl and used to visit her dad sometimes, with her mum or one of her older brothers. She even remembered the one time where she had spent an entire day here, playing hide and go seek with some of the elder Auror's. They used to always dote on her and give her all the candy she liked. She remembered that there was a cubicle to the far left that had a hidden door that opened into a small liqueur cabinet big enough to fit into. She remembered that dad got into so much trouble that day when they couldn't find her and they had half the Auror office looking for her. In hindsight, for professional Auror's they weren't so good at finding little girls, especially in their own department. When they found her, she remembered her dad lavished her with ice-cream if she promised never to tell mum what happened. She didn't go back there that much after that.

Still though, they were all good memories. Some of the older Auror's would let her sit on their desks and watch them do paper work, allowing her to put a red stamp on the papers when asked. There was this one Auror with grey balding hair that would always tell her stories of times when he was younger and used to chase after the bad guys in the Muggle police force.

She perhaps knew this place better than most people, even if there were changes; many changes. For one, dad was gone. Being promoted to another division, he was now on one of the upper floors. Many of the old crowd had either died or were eventually pensioned off to live their lives with their toes playing in the sand along a beach somewhere. And then there was Harry… Her sweet, lovable Harry who spent most time chasing after the bad guys like the hero she always knew he was.

In hindsight, she wasn't entirely sure why she didn't simply ignore the man's earlier request and simply go to Harry's office unattended as planned. After all, she had done it several times before. She assumed it was rather the shock of it that stopped her, or the boiling pit in her stomach that relished the thought of brutally showing this irritating man a piece of her Bat-bogey hex.

'Hey! I'm back again my darling', he smirked, walking back and ignoring the sheer lustful look of malice on her face.

When she noticed the man once again, he had plastered another overly dramatic gaze into her chest region and the growl in the pit of her stomach was reeling with curses and the act of hiding a corpse. Oblivious to her hostile stares, he continued ignorantly.

'Sorry about that. Important Auror business and everything you see'. She just nodded her head slowly; worried that if she said anything now, she could permanently damage this man.

'I take it you're here to see someone. Not that I mind your presence of course, but if you're here just to wander around, then I'm afraid that this ain't the sort of place for one as delicate as yourself to be in amongst all us scary Auror's'.

She didn't smile back. To an outside observer, you couldn't help notice her hand twitch in preparation and the evil glint in her eye that anyone with common sense would recognize as a woman's version of the grim.

'I'm here… to see Harry… Harry Potter' she replied, fuming.

'Potter eh...? Well… you must be a '_real_' bad girl to make it down to Lay-Down-Harry with that badge, miss... Well, right this way then' he replied, turning around and walking the short way to Harry's office.

_**To be continued…**_

**Author Notes (2): **Just remember, FanFiction authors are paid in reviews, not in cash. Although cash would be handy (for writing more stories that is…)


	2. Chapter 2

**Lay-Down-Harry**

_By Tom Kristal

* * *

_

**Standard Disclaimer: **All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) and are in no way connected with J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing or Warner Bros. The author of the following FanFiction does not in any way profit from the story and it is written solely for entertainment purposes only. Associated names, characters, places, items, and descriptions used in the following FanFiction are the copyrights and/or trademarks of the rightful owners. Rights to characters and their settings is neither claimed nor implied.

**Author Notes: **Thanks everyone for the reviews. They were all great and I thank everyone for their contribution. Oddly enough, this 'first' chapter has surpassed reviews for some of my original stories - and this is just the first chapter!

Once again, special consideration and thanks to _'XTimeGirlX'_ who has taken the time to Beta this story for me. I'm not sure where I would be after all her help. Probably in a gutter somewhere… or berating myself for not finding a beta-reader.

This is a shorter chapter - but to be fair, it made logical sense to end it at this point. Enjoy!

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**Lay-Down-Harry: **Chapter II

_'Potter eh...? Well… you must be a '__real__' bad girl to make it down to Lay-Down-Harry with that badge, miss... Well, right this way then' he replied, turning around and walking the short way to Harry's office…_

Harry fortunately had an isolated office along the right end of the cubicles that looked over a moving image of a farmhouse. As she walked, unknown faces sporadically popped up from their cubicles to see the beautiful yet extremely angry looking redhead make her way behind the smug looking Auror. When Ginny glanced back at them with her fierce stare, most immediately dropped their heads down in obvious fright; despite the fact that they were all trained Aurors.

Ginny finally stepped through the door of the untidy office and took a scope of her surroundings. The only way she could describe this room was undeniably Harry's. Though it was a reasonably well-sized room, it seemed crammed up to the hilt with bookshelves and old filing cabinets. From personal memory of being inside this office, she knew for one that on the far bookshelf behind the clatter of old books and personal memorabilia lay Harry's order of Merlin 1st class and a large stockpile of unopened fanfare he had received over the years. What was most notable though was that despite the clatter and professional look of the room, there was an air of homelessness. In particular style, its arrangement felt similar to her childhood home, the Burrow. Photos of friends and loves ones were scattered across the room. Most notably, a gold framed photo of her and Harry during their Hogwarts years laid prominently on his desk and a not-so-innocent poster of her posing in her Holyhead Harpies uniform facing the opposite wall. She knew that her mum, who was also a frequent visitor, had made certain to liven up Harry's office. Some of the furniture was obviously not of standard Auror issue, as one slightly torn and plumb lounge laid alongside the residing wall and a large Muggle radio of her dad's had been charmed to play the Wizarding wireless.

Out of instinctual habit, she silently took a quick sniff of the air that always had a calming effect on her. It had that familiar lovable scent of fresh grass and polished wood that seemed to emanate Harry's presence. Smiling to herself, she finally stepped beyond the threshold of the room and towards Harry's imposingly large pine desk.

'Well here we are, miss…' replied the Auror still standing at the door. Ignoring him, she took a thorough look at Harry's desk. Piles of paperwork swamped the table as well as several more photographs of friends and family. He had another very large photograph of them together during their time away in Italy when Ginny was competing in a Quidditch match…

'Excuse me, miss…'

Ginny snapped her head up once again, annoyed by this man's ability to annoy her and not leave her alone. He finally looked a little sheepish when she directed her fierce glare at him, but obviously not smart enough to take a hint, he continued on.

'Ahmm… sorry about the delay before, miss… I seemed to have forgotten introductions by the way. I'm Derek Aidan'.

Ginny huffed at him.

'Hello. I'm Ginny Weasley and I'm not going to sleep with you'.

His eyes popped open and his mouth laid agape as he gave her a quick stumped look at in shocked surprise. He solemnly looked at her with an open frown before suddenly changing his features back to his old smug look and dramatically looked down at his watch.

'Wow… that must be some sort of record' he chuckled. 'Normally they tell me they have a headache or they just want to be friends. But you went right for the kill didn't you, miss…?'

'Weasley, as I mentioned'.

'Hey! Aren't you that chaser?'

'How did you guess?' Ginny replied dryly, nodding towards the large poster of her posing for the Holyhead Harpies. Derek turned around to look appreciatively at the poster of her in full Quidditch attire.

'Are you done?!' Ginny responded impatiently. To Derek's credit, he looked abashed after being prodded out of his trance whilst staring at her poster in that questionably small outfit.

_I'm going to have to speak with my agent about that,_ she thought.

'So you're that red headed goddess that has young Lay-Down-Harry all gooey-eyed' he nodded at her in realizing understanding.

'Have you been hiding under a rock or something these past four years?' She replied harshly, wanting him desperately to leave her as soon as possible.

'Not at all, miss, not at all. It just seems to me that your picture', he gestured widely at her poster, 'does you a great injustice'.

He tried to give her another winning smile again, but was immediately halted by the indignant glare that Ginny hoped would burn him into ashes.

'And besides, lots of people have posters like that, miss. I keep mine in my bathr… Well…how abut I just leave you alone there, miss… I think he said he should be back soon any minute now'.

'Yeah, you do that' she dismissed him, turning away from him and making her way towards Harry's desk. A few moments later, she heard the blissful click of the door as the Auror left her to her solitude.

oOoOoOoOo

_Finally,_ she thought.

Continuing her step around the table, she sat comfortably on Harry's old leather chair and smoothly rested her feet up on the edge of the table. Giggling at herself for the childishness of her actions, she couldn't help but reminisce at the numerous times she had caught Harry doing the exact same thing. Looking at the table, she also couldn't help but notice the several piles of vanilla folders and reports that seemed to swamp his table. They seemed to eclipse the majority of the photos on his table as well as protrude a strange aura of claustrophobia that she knew Harry hated. Oddly enough, the only photo that remained completely uncovered was his gold framed picture of him and her haphazardly placed on top of a particularly large stockpile of encyclopaedias.

She thought, momentarily in boredom to take the initiative to tidy up his desk a little, but she immediately shunted that Hermione-ish thought from her mind, deciding that Harry probably had it in some preordained order anyway. Instead, she reached out to the top of the stockpile for the gold framed photo. Inspecting the picture closely, she immediately remembered the incident well. It was during one of the Slughorn parties that they had attended during their last year at Hogwarts. It had been their first official date after the battle of Hogwarts. She remembered fondly how Harry had nervously asked her to attend with him as his girlfriend.

_Silly boy._

In the photo, the moving couple were casually embracing one another fondly. They both couldn't take away the beaming smiles on his face while Harry looked down at Ginny as if she was the most precious thing in the world. He then went to kiss the crown of her head and the photo Ginny immediately scrunched up in mock annoyance. She then gently poked him in the ribs before giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. It was a blissful photo that she, as well as several other close friends had managed to get a copy of. Harry had even asked the photographer at the time to buy the negatives in order to keep the originals for himself. It felt so great seeing this photo. After pining for so many years after Harry and that last disastrous year with Harry on the run, things were finally turning around for both of them. Harry was finally free of Tom and the prophecy; which meant that for the first time in Harry's life, he was able to live life in as most carefree manner as possible without the responsibility of defeating a dark lord. There was still an edge of despair due all that was lost, but the opportunity to be happy and live for once was too hard to ignore for the both of them. And it showed immensely in this photo. Harry looked for the first time in his life carefree and relaxed; which was displayed by his continuing showcase of open affection on her. That was another point. Harry was finally allowed to open up. He now allowed himself to become the man that he always wanted to be with her, but was otherwise too petrified of showing before Tom was defeated. Knowing the boy from Hogwarts and the man of now, she knew that he had finally come in to his own. And because of this, they were still on a high in their relationship it seemed, even now.

Snapping out of her reverie, she placed the photo frame back on the large stockpile before laying down deeper into his chair. Unfortunately, while doing this, she hadn't noticed the half-empty mug of tea sitting to the side on the table. And with the grace of a ballerina, she knocked the entire mug's contents onto the table with her outstretched legs. In seemingly slow motion, the remaining cold tea splashed out onto several important looking documents beside it.

Cursing to herself, she immediately tried to fix the situation by picking up the cup and began rummaging around to find something to absorb the tea. Finding nothing, she went straight to one of the desk-side draws that lay beside her. Frantically fumbling in desperation through the clutter, she knew she needed to find something, anything before the documents were destroyed. Her building tirade started to panic as her rummaging became more frantic.

Then it hit her.

Was she a witch or wasn't she?

Silently cursing herself yet again for her stupidity, she pulled out her wand and lazily flicked at the documents, instantly cleaning them.

Now calming down slightly, she couldn't help but notice a small velvet box that sat hidden underneath some papers, quills and spell-o-tape, now revealed due to her rummaging. With the immediate crisis well at hand, Ginny's curiosity got the better of her. First ensuring that she was indeed alone, she gently picked up the box from the draw.

The box was made of velvet in a deep emerald colour. Around the edges of box were small gold edgings, elegantly decorated in a finely etched pattern. To the opening of the box was a small oval button with a small crest design on the front. Raising her eyebrow in curiosity, she looked at the box in quivering excitement at the thought of what Harry may want with such a box.

Knowing Harry, she knew that Harry was often quite lavish with his gifts; even though it wasn't always required. Hermione surmised that it was one of his drawbacks from the time he spent with the Dursleys. Something about learning from an early age that giving gifts was the model way of showing affection.

Though fortunately, she knew that on the other hand, Harry was also very practical in his gifts. When Fred and George needed help to fulfill their dreams in becoming professional pranksters, he gave them his Triwizard winnings to help start up their new shop. Once, her mum mentioned to him that she was worried about fitting her ever increasing family into the Burrow. Two weeks later, he had secretly renovated and enlarged her kitchen and dining room area. Even when she first got on the Harpies team, she was given the latest and best broom on the market. He never usually saw fit to give a gift that didn't suit one purpose or another. Even the pendent she wore underneath her clothes had been imbedded with several charms for protection. Looking down at the velvet box, Ginny was perhaps, for the first time in a long time, scared.

Ecstatic but scared.

Felling a little sneaky, she drummed up all her Gryffindor courage to do what she must do before she lost her nerve. Opening up the box, she gasped. Inside it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

It was a ring. Not just any ring: the perfect ring. It was a small golden band that seemed fitting for a queen. Its size, she surmised, was designed perfectly to fit whoever's finger it was created for. Her left ring finger twitched at this. At the top of the ring was a large but not exuberant emerald stone that glimmered in perfection. Its shimmering depths reflected in colours she knew were only found in the eyes of one other. On either side of the emerald, lay two smaller sized diamonds that seemed to shine right back at her. And finally, six smaller diamonds were imbedded on either side of the ring to finish off its overall splendour…

It was a beautiful ring…

The perfect ring…

An engagement ring…

oOoOoOoOo

She sat there mesmerized; it seemed for hours until finally her Quidditch reflexes snapped her out of her reverie when she heard someone approach. Suddenly, a soft creek of the door came from behind her and the unmistakable vision of a green-eyed man began walking through the door with an armful of paperwork rested in between his arms.

With an immediate startle, she covered her tracks quickly and discreetly placed the box back into the draw, closing it before he was any the wiser. Putting on the most innocent face she could manage; a skill learned through many years of sneaking around, she looked up towards the man she had been waiting all afternoon for...

_**To be continued…**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Lay-Down-Harry**

_By Tom Kristal_

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_**Standard Disclaimer: **All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) and are in no way connected with J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing or Warner Bros. The author of the following FanFiction does not in any way profit from the story and it is written solely for entertainment purposes only. Associated names, characters, places, items, and descriptions used in the following FanFiction are the copyrights and/or trademarks of the rightful owners. Rights to characters and their settings is neither claimed nor implied.

**Author Notes: **Sorry for the long delay. I have been quite busy as of late. With work, family and the added stress of getting my car broken into (degenerates stole my GPS – I hope they get lost with it!) there simply wasn't the time to get this posted. This chapter reveals the meaning behind the title, so I hope the delay was worth the suspense. Once again, special consideration and thanks to _'XTimeGirlX'_ who has taken the time to Beta this story for me. I never realized how bad my grammar was until I had someone look over my work. Never mind… Enjoy.

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**Lay-Down-Harry: **Chapter III

_With an immediate startle, she covered her tracks quickly and discreetly placed the box back into the draw, closing it before he was any the wiser. Putting on the most innocent face she could manage; a skill learned through many years of sneaking around, she looked up towards the man she had been waiting all afternoon for..._

Harry Potter in all his glory was always an impressionable sight, at first or even thirteenth glance. His jet black, untidy hair always had the girls craving at school. His brilliant green eyes sparkled with depths of intensity and affection; the same eyes as his mother's were no less hindered by his small black-rimmed glasses. Even despite his somewhat elfin physique from his once malnourished childhood, no-one could dispute the power of the figure before her; through the feel of magic surrounding him and the confident strides he walked. The feel of power sparked in the air like translucent electricity that she knew few people possessed. Albus Dumbledore had been one. Plus, she personally knew of the ribbed muscles he had underneath those thick Auror robes. The only thing out of place was the thin lightning-bolt scar on his forehead that once spoke of years of grief and hardship for Harry in the past. Overall, he was a sight to behold indeed.

He stood by the door, staring bemusedly at her before strolling forward casually towards his desk. Feeling somewhat guilty at sitting at his desk, she quickly stood up and marched towards him. They met each other half way at the front of his desk. In a well practiced manoeuvre, Harry absentmindedly dumped his paperwork at the foot of his desk and embraced Ginny in all encompassing hug. Feeling immediately satisfied at this, Ginny returned the embrace in kind, wrapping her arms around his midsection and tugging him even closer until only the fabric of their clothes separated them from each other. They stood there for a few moments, Harry silently stroking her hair, while Ginny nuzzled into the crook of Harry's neck. Eventually, they slowly pulled apart.

'Hi, Gin' Harry said, looking at her hungrily.

'Hi yourself, Harry' she replied shyly, feeling slightly self-conscious, yet ecstatic at the way he looked at her. He looked appraisingly at her face, apparently absorbing every detail of her before slowly looking down at the front of her robes and smiling in appreciation.

'Nice badge, Weasley' he smirked. Ever so gently, he slowly unclipped the offensive badge from her coat and placed it into a large bowl that showcased a large collection of previous Ginny Weasley visiting badges.

'I think that's best one yet'.

Over the years, it had been a parting joke between the two of them to see how far and outrageously they could manipulate the badges before the whole thing blew up. So far, she had come up with some famous badges including: 'terrorist', 'mime impersonator' and 'gone fishing'. She had the smirking suspicion that Harry had some role in the wording of the current badge and even the fiasco downstairs. Harry was a Marauder's son, after all.

'Although I can't imagine why you would be wearing that in plain sight. Your mother would be in horror if she knew'. They both gave a quiet laugh, knowing exactly what her mother would do if she found such a badge.

'Not that I ever mind you being here, Gin, but what brings you down here today?'

'Oh', she sighed dramatically 'down to business are we, Mr. Big-Auror, sir?'

'If we must', he chuckled whilst taking a seat behind his large mahogany desk. With a subtle hand gesture, he signalled for her to take a seat at the front of the table. Without a second's thought, she ignored the front chair and followed him. Lazily, she jumped up onto his lap and mischievously squirmed herself into a more comfortable position.

'Comfy?' he asked.

'Very' Ginny replied, snuggling closer onto his lap to smell his scent.

'Well… then, seeing that we've got that part out of the way, how can I help you today, miss...?'

'Weasley'.

'Ahh... Miss Weasley. I see… Well, how can I help you today then?'

Laughing internally at their little byplay, she continued. 'Well officially, I'm here on a certain mother hen's orders to make sure you make it to tonight's dinner; even if I have to drag you there in shackles'.

'Shackles?'

'Well… she may have left that last part out', she winked 'but whatever brings results, right?'

He laughed humorously but her mouth became a frown as her own mood turned serious. 'This is the third Sunday family dinner you've missed, Harry', she sternly reminded him.

He let out a sigh. 'I know, Gin and I'm really sorry. I've just been really busy here lately'.

'So have all the rest of us, and we still make some time. Even Hermione makes time you know…'

'Wait…' he stopped her 'what has she told you?' Harry asked in hidden amusement.

'What do you mean?' She asked, confused.

'From what I've been told, the only reason her work load has been managed this far is because she is taking work home to bed. Literally. Ron's been quite vocal on the issue actually'.

They both physically shivered at the thought.

'So… changing the topic, how was practice today?' he asked. 'Is the coach still being a cow with you?'

'Well let's just say that calling her a cow would be an insult to the farm and dairy industry out there. Not to mention those poor cows'.

'That bad, huh?'

'You could say that. Fiona got a sprained ankle and I nearly got a concussion by the end of it'. She rubbed her head, thinking of the near miss she had with the Bludger earlier that day. 'You would think that after four consecutive wins, she would have a little faith in our abilities'.

'I'm sure it's just her way of showing...'

'If you're going to say what I think you're going to say, then you're headed for a one way ticket to having snot coming out of your nose and attacking you' she said maliciously.

'Duly noted, ma'am' Harry replied in a mock saluting tone.

'That's more like it. I like my men thoroughly whipped'.

'Yes… please bring out the old ball and chain anytime'.

'Maybe later'.

Harry smiled wildly at that, but also made a discrete shiver at her passing comment. Ginny inwardly smirked at the way she was still able to have that effect on Harry.

'Hey wait... why did you say _men_ and not _man_?' Harry interrupted her musings.

'Well… I do like to keep my options open'.

'Not in your life, Ginevra'.

'And why not!?'

'Because you're assuming I'm ever going to let you go'.

Her grin immediately grew wider as Harry grabbed her tightly into his embrace. Snuggling closer into Harry's lap, she replied '…and you're assuming I'm ever going to want you to'.

'Duly noted'.

He leaned forward and pressed their lips together softly.

'Ma'am'. He added in a low whisper.

'Am I interrupting something?'

oOoOoOoOo

Standing in the doorway was once again that smug looking Auror she had met before and had hoped to never see again. _Damn,_ she thought. Once again, Derek had somehow managed to ruin her perfect moment. She looked at Harry who was flushing embarrassingly at his compromising position, his cheek tinged with red specs. _Words fail me._ _Well, polite words, anyway_, she thought, frowning at the devil's spawn, formally known as Derek.

Before she had a second's chance to protest, Harry gently lifted her up from his lap and stood to attention beside the disgruntled Ginny, probably in some vain hope to show some semblance of authority. _I can think of plenty of swear words however,_ her mind added.

Harry flushed; the red on his cheeks had now spread down to his neck with embarrassment at being caught out by another co-worker.

'Oh yes, Derek...' Harry muttered in his most casual of tones. 'I forgot, Ginny, this is Derek. Derek, this is...'

'Don't worry about introductions, Harry' she sneered. 'I had the 'pleasure' of an introduction before you came in actually.' An uncomfortable silence broke across the room as Ginny went stiff and folded her arms, to Harry's dismay.

'Am I missing something?'

'Well it just so happens in fact, that I escorted her to your office' Derek replied sheepishly, probably finally figuring out the potential trouble he had just put himself into. 'And don't be angry or anything, but before I knew who she was, I took some liberties with my mouth and did a kamikaze on your girlfriend's behalf'.

Ginny noticed immediately as Harry straitened up to his full menacing height, staring down at the pathetic looking Auror standing in the doorway.

'You made a move on my girl?' he replied coldly, bringing a new bout of cold silence into the room.

_Men!_ Ginny huffed to herself.

'Not in his life!' Ginny snorted in amused mirth. Although it annoyed her most of the time, she loved it when Harry got all jealous-boyfriend on her. It kept him on his toes.

'Hey..!' Derek protested, gaining back some of his bravado. 'Many women have said I'm quite a catch. And a handsome chap to boot, you know'.

'Oh yes, I imagine' Ginny replied back, smirking. 'Who was this last 'woman' who told you this? Was it perhaps your mother... when you were six?' Ginny added.

For the second time that hour, Derek blanched at the severe blow to his ego before coming out of his reverie and continuing.

'And here I was, thinking you were harmless' he said smugly.

'What? I am harmless' Ginny pouted, giving out her most innocent look possible. It wasn't working. Harry snorted in the background.

'Nice try, miss… But anything that looks that damn good and that damn innocent is bound to be dangerous…'

'As amusing as this all is', Harry loudly broke into the conversation. Ginny suddenly realized that he was still standing right next her with a severely irritated look on his face. 'Would you mind explaining to me why we... I was so rudely interrupted?'

'Oh… Yes' he then remembered. 'Johnston from the Strategic-Growth-Division called from upstairs. They reckon that that report on the current estimates in Great Britain is grossly inaccurate and needs immediate revising' he replied the last part in a fake pushed-up tone.

'For the last time' Harry muttered to himself with a huff, 'I told them last week. The report is not inaccurate. It's just something they don't want to hear'.

'Try telling them that' Derek commented dejectedly. 'One of their flunkies had the cheek to tell me I couldn't tell a quill from a stick and that it was a surprise that the whole Auror division had the combined ability to write a report at all'.

'What did you do then?' Ginny asked curiously, knowing there was more.

Derek smirked mischievously. 'Oh nothing… I simply transfigured him into a hedgehog and locked him in his filing cabinet'.

'DEREK!'

'What!' he whined 'he made me angry.'

'And that really shows the rest of the ministry that we're more than just a group of hired wands…' Harry retorted sarcastically, disapproval laced through his voice.

Derek looked down at his feet. 'Well I suppose…'

'Derek?'

'Yes, boss?'

'I want you to go downstairs right now and reverse the curse on that man. After you've formally apologized, I want you to tell those idiots that in no-way was that report inaccurate. And if they want to contest it further, tell them to check the public records themselves. It shows the exact same thing in black and white… then I want you to come back up here to discuss this further'.

Derek stared down at the floor in contrite. To Ginny's surprise, it was perhaps the first time since she had met the man that he looked so serious. 'Sure thing, Harry' he responded with his face still down in an officious sounding voice. Then, as suddenly as a switched being turned on, he looked up with that annoying grin on his face. 'Wouldn't want to mess with the boss after all… Lay-Down-Harry, especially'.

Harry thumped back onto his chair in apparent new annoyance. 'And can you quit it with that name already!' Harry exclaimed, rubbing his forehead. 'It's annoying as hell and it doesn't even rhyme!'

'What's this thing about Lay-Down-Harry?' Ginny interrupted, 'that's the second time I've heard it today.' Derek snorted with amusement. Harry just rolled his eyes and turned a deep shade of red.

'Well…'

Harry looked at Derek glaringly.

'Hey! Don't blame me!' Derek replied defensibly, 'it ain't my fault she is thoroughly misinformed about your new title, oh… chosen-one'.

'I have enough titles as it is!' Harry barked in irritation, but Ginny knew by his expression that he was shy at any form of praise or attention.

The three stood in a standstill for a few agonizing long moments until Ginny finally broke the silence.

'Well… is anyone going to tell me about my boyfriend's new title or am I simply going to have to wait for the next edition of _Witch Weekly_?'

'No... No' Harry replied meekly, gesturing for her to sit back down. To the amusement of Derek, she sat down once again on his lap. 'It's best I tell you. It's nothing much really anyway' Harry stated, 'it's just something people like to throw around the office'. Harry took a deep puff of air before continuing.

'Well…'

'Well…'

With a sigh, he started. '…this starts off with one of the reasons I get a lot of my tutelage from most of the head Aurors, as well as a lot of pull here around the office… Simply put, when I first started, a few things happened that made my presence on the field somewhat counterproductive at times'.

'Counterproductive?!' Ginny raised her eyebrow in shock.

'Well… you see…'

'Oh, come on boss!' Derek interrupted, 'you're explaining this all wrong. Let me have a shot'.

'Fine then' Harry said in a huff. 'You're the story teller apparently'. Both Ginny and Derek rolled their eyes in combined annoyance.

Taking this as his cue, Derek theatrically sat down on the visiting couch and began making wild hushing gestures, as if performing a story in front of a large crowd.

'Ok. Imagine if you will' Derek began in deep dramatic gestures. 'A world full of magic. Creatures and dark wizards everywhere…'

He took a dramatic pause. 'Unsavoury characters, crawling around in the darkness like the little cockroaches they are…' he simultaneously made crawling gestures with his hands, or at least tried to. 'Scabbing off the good of others to profit their poor, pathetic lives…'

'Enough with the dramatics, Derek'.

'What?! I'm getting to it. I'm just building up a bit of background'.

'Fine then' Harry sighed in tiredness. 'Just get to the part where you leave me alone with my girlfriend would you, Derek? You're not the only thing on my to-do list for today'.

'Fine then…' he huffed. 'Before I was so rudely interrupted' he said with another casual smirk 'I was saying… What these people don't make up for in intelligence, they make up for in sneaking and lying and cheating and probably stealing anything and everything that doesn't have its base presently attached by a permanent sticking charm'.

'Therefore…' he continued 'it's the job of all Aurors to stop these unsavoury characters in the act. But most importantly, to instil a sense of caution and dare I say 'intimidation' in the Wizarding community'.

'Intimidation?'

'Yes' Harry interrupted. 'Despite popular belief, the Wizarding community isn't particularly large, which leaves our Auror force meagre at best. So beyond the actual cases and copious amounts of paperwork' he gestured to his table, 'about ninety percent of an Auror's role is to instil an ingrained feeling of intimidation within the community' Harry explained in the calm droll normally reminiscent of Hermione, or perhaps the DA years. 'To know that while an Auror is patrolling the streets, there is always a risk of being caught'.

'…And knowing this' Derek said, taking his cue, 'can you imagine the reaction of these less than unsavoury individuals, coming up against the great 'Harry Potter': defeater of the dark lord. What chances do they have Duelling up against the very man who took down the greatest dark wizard in over a century with a single spell?'

Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. She knew exactly how intimidating Harry could be. She had seen it a few times herself after all.

'I can only imagine' Ginny replied with an amused edge to her voice.

'I know, it's utterly hilarious!' cried Derek.

'It's not that funny…' Harry interrupted, blushing slightly.

'Like hell it isn't, Harry!' Derek interrupted again, now giggling like a school girl.

'So the story goes… or at least, this is when it first started. On the first week of Harry's patrolling, Harry and this other senior Auror found such a group of unsavoury characters walking around in Knockturn Alley. Senior Auror Abbot I believe just told Harry to introduce himself and to determine any nefarious actions'. Derek laughed silently to himself. 'As it turns out, these guys were apparently trying to export some illegal potions across to the mainland. Twenty-five million galleons worth of illegal contraband. The biggest bust in over two decades, and to boot he managed this bust on his first week'.

Ginny shook her head with confusion. 'But wait. That doesn't make sense. What did Harry do?'

'That's the thing… absolutely nothing!' Derek cried out in amusement. 'From the moment they saw Harry. They dropped their wands and laid down on the ground face-first. No struggling… no complaints… they just completely submitted themselves at the very sight of Harry here, like a batch of bondage sadists. Told him exactly what they were doing and who else was involved. They didn't think to use the emergency portkeys that they had on their bodies. Think they forgot, to tell the truth…'

At that moment, Derek couldn't help himself. His silent giggles broke out into thunderous laughter. Not too soon after that, fuelled by the mortified look on Harry's face, Ginny couldn't take it in any longer and joined Derek in the laughter.

'So… that's…it?!' Ginny asked, trying to control her breathing.

'NO!' Derek bellowed happily, 'that's the thing. It kept on happening. It didn't matter what it was, in almost every case thereafter, from the very moment they saw the great Harry Potter here, they immediately stopped struggling and cowed-down.

'They stopped resisting arrest to be more precise' commented Harry with a look of deep mortification in his eyes.

Ignoring Derek's laughter, which now had him apparently in stitches, Ginny decided that Harry's needs were more important than taking the mickey out of him. Deciding to placate him, she grabbed his hand and held it gently.

'…Then the nickname came along and something clicked. There was a theme song and everything!'

'Derek, if you tell her the song, I swear I'll have you shifted in with Wilson for a week!'

'But… but I'm allergic to paperwork!' he stammered.

'Harry, it's not so bad.' She tried to soothe him to no avail. Ginny couldn't help but notice the creased lines on his forehead deepen in a way that always showed whenever he was frustrated or sulking. Ignoring the pitiful man known as Derek, she squeezed his hand. He looked up at her with an appreciative smile.

'It's hard to explain' he mumbled, '…sort of a sore spot for me actually…' She looked at him sternly and his resolve quickly crumbled.

'Well… for the most part, Derek is right. And it was hilarious at first' he commented offhandedly. 'You know, having bad people cowering at the very sight of you. Not that I enjoyed that in a perverse way' he corrected himself. He gently used his arms that were around her waist to push her more comfortably onto his lap. 'I didn't exactly enjoy the intimidation or anything. Not like Tom did. But it did help build up my confidence for a little while. I was doing my job better than anyone expected. I was doing the very thing I went out to do. To make the world a little safer for us...' Noting the second meaning, she beamed at him, encouraging him to continue. 'But then the problems started to happen.' Harry sighed, looking away from her towards the far wall that held numerous wanted posters.

'Problems?'

'Well maybe 'problems' is too harsh a statement. Difficult, perhaps…or maybe…'

'Harry!'

'Oh fine. Well the truth is that… well, some of the Aurors weren't particularly happy with me being here in the first place. To most, it was an insult to their reputation and many simply saw me as some hotshot celebrity - taking away their glory because of said fame'.

Ginny gasped but Harry continued.

'Wait a second; I'm getting ahead of myself.'

'The solution to put me in a paid-internship immediately after Tom's defeat was at best, a publicity stunt. Even after the war, no-one was certain who to trust; especially the Aurors who until recently, were parading around as enforcers for the Death Eaters. So what better way to ensure the public than putting their saviour into the Ministry to clean up the corruption? Whether or not I was a rookie didn't matter… only the publicity it propagated' Harry spat bitterly.

'If it weren't for the fact that more people were needed to help the Ministry get up to scratch, I would have kindly told Kingsley to go and shove it… but that's another story. The point is that the corruption scandal was a sore spot for most Aurors, and me being there to solve it did not go down well in most people's eyes.' He sighed again, glancing at Ginny. She looked back at him, nodding for him to continue.

'The internship was therefore one of my conditions of working there, to deal with my overall lack of experience. On top of the trainee courses I had to complete, it was up to every Auror in the department to help and guide me…'

'Which meant?'

'Ordering me around…. but that comes later'.

'As you can imagine, my presence was not taken well. Some of them had spent years of their life working for the magical community; only to suddenly be openly accused of being corrupt and then have some hot-shot celebrity come in without so much as an education. It practically reeked of favouritism. Not even to mention the attitude of the few remaining sympathizers and hidden Death Eaters in the midst. And to top it off, I apparently showed them up with Tom's defeat. They had been trying for years to take down Voldemort, and I managed to defeat the most powerful dark wizard in a century single handed with a single spell'.

Ginny's heart fluttered at the mention of Tom, but Harry continued.

'I guess they knew they couldn't get rid of me, directly at least. So I guess some of them decided to take it out on me after a while. On top of everything, they started dumping all their caseloads on me whenever something happened. And seeing how my new nickname had some credence to it, that sort-of stuck after a while. Within six months, they had tripled my caseload'.

'Why didn't you do anything?' Ginny asked.

'What could I do?' he responded. 'My special circumstances as an untrained Intern meant that I had to comply with everything they told me to do. And I wasn't about to give up and prove them right, so I stuck with it'.

Ginny saw the flash of defiance in his eyes and knew that he would have rather kissed a Blast-Ended Skrewt than admit defeat.

Sighing in weariness, she asked, 'How bad was it?'

'Pretty bad' he responded. 'With all the training, working here and the supplementary tutoring for my NEWTs, I was working around the clock. Eighteen hour shifts at one point'.

Ginny gasped at this in horror. She had no idea.

'Why didn't you say anything?' she questioned '…and why the hell am I hearing all of this now?!' Ginny added, glaring at Harry, her hands to her waist in an acute impersonation of her mother.

'Well I didn't really mind it at first' he responded meekly, not daring to look at her in the eye. 'There still wasn't that many living Aurors at that point and we really needed all the help we could get. I was more than willing to put in my share'.

'And as for not telling you' Harry added, still avoiding her eyes 'this all kind of happened during your last year at Hogwarts. With you finishing your NEWTs and then your training with the Harpies... I didn't want you to be worried over nothing'.

'OVER NOTHING!' she cried angrily.

'I know. I screwed up. But to be fair, I thought it was the best idea at the time…' he mumbled the last part, trembling at her gaze.

'I think your father knew about it though. I think he was one of the ones who threw a fit about this to Kingsley'.

'There was a huge uproar of course' Derek chimed in. 'The whole Auror department still talks about how the Minister of Magic personally came down and single handedly hexed five of the senior Aurors responsible into chimps'.

'He WHAT?!' Ginny exclaimed.

'Yeah… and that's not all' he continued. 'He then gave them all Muggle typewriters and told them to type out an apology to Harry while still in their monkey suit'.

Derek broke the heated atmosphere surrounding the office as they dissolved into laughter. Once they had calmed down at the thought of five chimps wandering around the ministry corridors, they continued.

'So things calmed down after that?'

'Yeah' Harry replied, 'Kingsley sorted it all out. Nothing as dramatic as chimp-typing monkeys, by the way.

'Hey! I was trying to lighten the mood' Derek butted in. 'Any more melodrama and I think I would have needed a tissue…'

'Anyway…. everything was kept under wraps and the caseload filtered to a more reasonable level, despite popular belief' he added, gesturing at the numerous piles of paperwork before him.

Ginny took a closer look at all the paperwork. There seemed to be an unusually large amount of paperwork there, she thought. Something didn't add up. If Harry was back into normal duties, then why was there enough paperwork on his desk to bury a person? Acknowledging his temporary role as an administrator, Harry was by no means lazy.

'Then what's with all the paperwork?' she parroted her thoughts. 'If you're just another Auror (even a higher ranking one now), then why does it look like you'd sooner die of paper cuts than hold a wand ever again?'

At this, Derek gave an unexpected snort of laughter and mumbled something unintelligible like 'that's what you would like you to think…'

'Derek' Harry chided, his face turning a deathly pale.

'What..?' Ginny asked, confused.

Harry momentarily glared at Derek, who apparently had at least the dignity to look slightly abashed by Harry's glare. Then he spoke.

'Well the thing is, Gin…' he spoke calmly 'after the incident, there was a lot of talk about where to put me. The ones in charge decided it was far more important that their 'Golden-Boy' remained in the limelight for all to see, especially seeing how well I was doing, despite the work overload. I was apparently too valuable an asset to simply give me a desk job… So in return, they allowed some concessions' he paused.

Ginny nodded her head in understanding to continue.

'So... From that point on, with fewer cases and more administrative responsibilities, I was given in-kind top consideration to the more… interesting cases available'.

'Define interesting' she asked, not thinking she going to like this answer.

'Some of the more… high-profile cases available. In a nutshell, whenever we get a case that needs a little extra attention, they usually pass it onto me'.

'Lucky git'. Derek grumbled.

'Derek!'

'What? You get all the insanely cool cases' Derek butted in 'I would have killed to do half the stuff you do'. Ginny gave Harry a cold terrified stare, but he continued. 'Remember that drawer case six months ago with that illegal…'

'Enough, Derek!' Harry yelled, but with no malice in his voice. 'You have every opportunity to see suck cases in the future'.

Ginny didn't say anything. She was too shocked for words.

'You've just got to remember to focus on your own work and know that we are not here to look for action. We're here to help and save lives, Derek, not to mention preserving our own…' Harry added the last part with a little extra emphasis.

'So you heard about that, huh?' Derek asked, looking for the first time, slightly ashamed.

'Yes… I heard' Harry replied calmly. Ginny could only watch at the sudden turn of events. The room seemed to dim a little as a sudden chill of dread and despair choked the room like invisible gas, slowly poisoning its occupants.

Harry reluctantly smiled and looked directly at Derek. 'You're a good Auror, Derek. You're hardworking and unfortunately for me, brutally honest. But with this attitude and your need for action, nothing but bad news will come out of it'.

Harry looked over at Ginny with a saddened look on his face. Ginny simply snuggled up closer to him, giving him the comfort he needed.

'Believe it or not, I've seen it happen to people before'. Harry sighed, probably thinking of Sirius, and continued. 'They think they can take on the world and then they get too cocky and before you know it, I'm reading their obituary'.

With a softer voice, he continued. 'I know what it's like, I really do. But trust me, Derek, as invincible as we all like to think ourselves to be; putting yourself within the firing range every time something bad happens is a sure way to hurt the people we love. And trust me Derek, being a martyr isn't all that it's cracked up to be'.

The room stood in silence for a moment with at least two people in the room fully understanding what Harry meant at being a martyr. Leaning forward with absolute care, Ginny gave Harry a slow and tender kiss that sent shivers down both of their spines. For a moment, neither would have cared if Derek or half the Wizengamot was watching.

Derek let out a hollowed laugh in a vain attempt to break the quiet atmosphere. The cuddling couple did not respond.

'…Well it seems I may have outstayed my welcome' said Derek uncomfortably. 'I'll go...'

'Yeah… you do that' mumbled Harry, still trying to desperately cling to Ginny's bottom lip.

'Don't do what I wouldn't do' chirped Derek, retreating towards the door, still facing them. 'And if you do… be sure to place a silencing spell on the office… common courtesy and all'.

'Thanks, Derek' replied Ginny, not caring about his implications.

With the shrug of his shoulder, Derek slowly turned around and discreetly tried to leave the room.

'And, Derek?' He turned back towards Harry.

'Remember the other thing I said before, Derek. We're Aurors, not bullies'.

After curtly nodding, Derek sent another appreciative glance at Ginny (much to her annoyance) and left the office.

_**To be continued…**_

**Author Notes (2): **Just remember, FanFiction authors are paid in reviews, not in cash. Although cash would be handy (for writing more stories that is…) Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far.


	4. Chapter 4

**Lay-Down-Harry**

_By Tom Kristal

* * *

_

**Standard Disclaimer: **All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) and are in no way connected with J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing or Warner Bros. The author of the following FanFiction does not in any way profit from the story and it is written solely for entertainment purposes only. Associated names, characters, places, items, and descriptions used in the following FanFiction are the copyrights and/or trademarks of the rightful owners. Rights to characters and their settings is neither claimed nor implied.

**Author Notes:** Another short chapter I'm afraid, but I found this part the most crucial aspect of the story (read down to find out!). Not long to go before this story is finished… Sniff… Once again, special consideration and thanks to _'XTimeGirlX'_ who has taken the time to Beta this story for me. I never realized how bad my grammar was until I had someone look over my work. I'm just that bad. Never mind… Enjoy.

* * *

**Lay-Down-Harry: **Chapter IV

_After curtly nodding, Derek sent another appreciative glance at Ginny (much to her annoyance) and left the office._

Once Derek had left the office, allowing the doors to loudly bang behind him, Harry looked back with a shy grin. 'Don't worry about Derek, he's mostly harmless'.

'Mostly?' her eyebrows frowned.

'Well… he is an Auror after all. He couldn't exactly be 'entirely' harmless' he shrugged, 'He wouldn't be doing his job otherwise'.

'Oh really, Mr. Head Auror, Sir?' she laughed, patting him playfully on the chest.

'Temporarily the acting Head Auror' he corrected, abashed at her words.

'Oh please, Harry. From the way Derek acted back there, you practically run this place yourself anyway'.

'Well… in a manner of speaking'.

'Now that you mention it', Ginny said, looking up at the ceiling in a mock pondering position 'if I hadn't known better, you were channelling the spirit of Dumbledore for a second there… or maybe Snape'.

'Now isn't that below the belt?' Harry cried in mock outrage. 'Look, the only reason I'm here in the first place is because there was no-one else. Proudfoot is on vacation and Davidson is looking after his kid with Dragon-pox. I was the only one available with no pressing cases, nothing more'.

'Can-it Harry' she chided, 'you're here because you're good at what you do and everyone knows it'.

'Well it's a thankless job, but fortunately I've got a lot of Karma to burn off', Harry quirked in jest, but he couldn't hide his frown as he looked sadly across from her at his table full of paperwork.

'What is this all about, Harry?'

'It's…' he stammered, frowning slightly, '…it's just so frustrating, Ginny'. Letting it all out, he continued. 'I'm trying my hardest, I really am. And the more I try, the more things like this 'name' pop up. Not that I'm complaining about the job. I love it… mostly. But when it comes down to it, Ginny… I'm in this position because of a name. I'm sick and tired of names, Ginny. It may not seem much, but I've lived my whole life full of names and I know enough to understand what they truly are: a label. And one way or another, labels have dictated to me for my entire life. Whether it's this 'Lay-Down-Harry' persona or the 'Boy-Who-Lived' or the 'Chosen-One', or just plain 'Freak', it's just another way for people to put me apart from others. And because of those labels, I've been praised and vilified for most of my life'.

Harry took a deep breath.

'And now, because of that name, I'm here regardless of the fact that there are five other people who I can think of who are more experienced at this job than I. I have to constantly question myself whether I'm here because of my skills, or my reputation. But what I do know… oh, and I hate paperwork'.

Ginny looked sternly at him for a moment. She could tell that this had been gnawing at Harry for a long time. And it seemed so ridiculous at first consideration. But in a lot of ways, it was also very true. Harry had been marked with both praise and infamy before he could probably talk. Even she for the longest time had been enamoured with the story of the 'Boy-Who-Lived'. Memories of her dad telling her bedtime stories of the brave and noble 'Harry Potter' rose within her, and she felt somewhat ashamed now to know the brutal truth behind the myth. Whereas in certain circles he was a saviour; in reality, he was treated worse than a house elf. Titles had a different meaning to Harry. While others may have held such prestige as a badge of honour, he held it as something to set him apart. And the more names he was called, the more segregated he felt. Moreover, he knew that once an image had been built up, it was almost impossible to break away from it. Being either revered or despised, how could anyone possibly succeed in life if they were constantly scrutinized at every corner? Could an achievement ever be one's own?

And now Harry believed that the cycle had begun all over again… No wonder he had kept this quiet from her. He was annoying that way. Keeping an intent look at his solemn state, she decided to confide in him.

'You're a good man, Harry' she started. 'You're brave and stupid and as stubborn as hell, but I wouldn't want you any other way…'

Leaning closer, she continued, 'Forget the name, Harry. It's a silly joke someone has invented that means absolutely nothing in the long run. Reputation doesn't give respect, you can only earn it. And regardless of what you may think of the people around here, they all respect you. If they didn't, Derek wouldn't have acted like a chastised schoolboy the way he did. And there may be five other people who are more experienced than you, but none of them have your heart'.

Ginny forced Harry to look at her and his eyes widened at the overpowering gaze of affection she was pouring into him. She leaned closer into him on his lap and kissed his forehead, then his cheek, and then tenderly his lips.

'It's not going to be like it was before, Harry' she quivered, 'just in a different way, that's all. And you're more than a name, Harry. You are you and I love you for it'.

Finally, he gave her that crooked smile to show that he was finally done with his brooding for the day. 'Thanks, Gin. That's just what I needed to hear'.

She smiled too and they embraced even closer together, basking in their closeness.

'…You should have told me about this earlier' she said, snuggled into his shoulder.

'I know…' he replied, 'it's just that…'

'You didn't want to bother me?'

'Something like that'.

'Silly boy' she replied, 'what would you ever do without me?'

He didn't reply back.

After several long moments of pressing themselves together, Harry grudgingly broke the silence.

'So... Derek… did he really proposition you?'

_Men!_

She pushed back on him and hit him on the arm… hard.

'Oww!' he bellowed, rubbing his arm. 'What was that for!?'

'That's for acting like one of my prat brothers and trying to defend my honour after the fact'.

'I still don't understand'.

Ginny decided to hit him again.

'What was that one for!?'

'Do I look like I need protecting?'

Rubbing his apparently sore shoulder, he replied diplomatically, 'Apparently not'.

'And don't forget that, Mr.'

'Yes ma'am…'

'And how come I haven't seen this Derek guy before?' Ginny asked impatiently, snuggling into his neck.

'Derek has been around for quite a few years actually' Harry answered nonchalantly, whist he slowly began to leaf through his paperwork. 'He was one of the only junior Aurors that survived Tom's little coups on the ministry'.

'Really?' Ginny said in surprise, raising her eyebrows in apparent shock.

'Yeah, well… he was immediately discharged from the ministry corps after they found out that he was a Muggle-born; and once they started to distribute that magical theft propaganda, Derek was lucky enough to flee the country with his remaining family until this whole mess cleared through'.

'Was he one of the…?' Ginny asked tentatively, thinking of Harry's previous trouble with Aurors.

'Derek… No. He was one of the only few that were on my side during this whole debacle. I think he appreciated how I dealt with the 'Muggle-born Registration Commission' during mine, Ron and Hermione's little hiatus'.

'So… Derek's OK?'

'Yes, Ginny, he is' he said, placating.

'Well he's still a dick.'

Harry chuckled. 'At times… yes, but beyond the rough…'

'_Very_ rough exterior', Ginny bantered sarcastically 'he's a very nice guy; wonderful with kids and small, furry animals'.

'Gin' Harry reprimanded lightly, raising an eyebrow.

'Oh, alright. I'll lay off him. But if _one_ vulgar word leaves his mouth, he'll need to arrange witness protection from all the Bat-Bogey's coming out of his nose'.

Ginny sighed in remembrance of those dark times. Despite her words, she now grudgingly gave some new found respect to the seemingly dim-witted Auror. It was apparent that there was more to him than met the eye. She knew firsthand how hard it had been during those times. And she herself had been a classified pureblood. But even being a pureblood, the things that happened during that horrendous year alone at Hogwarts still chilled her to the bone. Something she had been severely tempted to never even let Harry know about. And as for Tom's final solution, she shuddered at the thought. From what she had heard from several other surviving victims of the past war, it was a wonder the Wizarding world hadn't collapsed on itself into extinction, yet alone allowed people like Derek to escape. It was just another reason why there were people like Harry still around in the world…

oOoOoOoOo

In her musings, she almost missed Harry discreetly lean back in his chair (with her still on his lap) and stretch his hand over towards to the desk draw. With expertise and slyness worthy of a Weasley, Harry skilfully managed to open the draw, remove something small and put it in his pocket. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Ginny had been looking at him from the corner of his eye, she would have completely missed it.

Immediately thinking of her little rummage through his draws before he arrived and the discovery she had made, her mind suddenly clicked together in understanding.

The certain item hidden in Harry's top draw; the shifty look in Harry's eye that screamed with anxiety and a little excitement; the way his caresses were a little more tender than usual...

She knew exactly what was going on.

She knew exactly what was in that box. She didn't need to be Hermione to figure that one out.

She would have gasped, if only she knew that it would have given her away. In the depths of her stomach, she began to feel that long forgotten rush of giddiness she once felt when she had chased after Harry on a train platform when she was a child. It was really happening… and to think, she was only here for a courtesy call. As a result, beyond her calm exterior, she was riddled with nervous anticipation and something else more… carnal in nature.

A mischievous thought swarmed through her as desire drove her and patience failed her.

Without a word, she leaped up from Harry's lap and spun around, facing his shocked face. With the force only a woman with extensive Quidditch training could provide, she grabbed Harry by the arm and forcefully pulled him out of the chair.

'Harry… we've gotta get going really soon… before mum blows an artery' she said quickly without a pause while looking at her watch suspiciously.

Still surprisingly struggling with her firm grip, he looked down at his desk sorrowfully. 'Sorry, Gin. I would love to go right now, but like I said before: I've still got some paper work to do and if I don't do it now, there will be murder tomorrow'.

To be fair, Harry looked really bereaved at his confession, but Ginny wasn't having any of that.

'No excuses, Harry... Mr. Harry Potter needs to learn how to delegate' she said, shuffling out of the door, half dragging him along with her.

'But the paperwork..!'

'Delegate, Harry! Delegate!' she huffed, leading him out the doorway.

'Hey, Ginny!' he exclaimed, exasperated yet highly amused. 'I need my coat'.

'Not enough time, I ...' Ginny blushed before quickly correcting herself. '_We_ need to get going right now, before mum blows a cauldron at another late arrival.'

'But we will be at least an hour early' he whined.

_Perfect. _She thought.

oOoO (Derek's P.O.V.) OoOo

'Hey, Harry! Where'd you think you're going?' Derek called over to his disgruntled boss, who was being physically dragged along by his gorgeous shorter redhead.

'I'm ahh… taking the afternoon off early apparently…' He looked down apprehensively at the irate redhead tugging at his arm as he continued. 'Can you make sure that the important paperwork on my desk is done for me by morning?'

'Sure thing, boss'.

He could see Harry trying to reply in response, but before he could make a reply, the scary redhead with a lustful and determined look on her face continued to drag him along the far corridor towards the elevators. Rather quickly, the two had made it into the elevator and were gone before he could say 'Quidditch'.

All he could do was stare.

He looked around to see that he apparently wasn't the only one taking notice of the young couple's quick departure. While several had their heads poking out of their cubicle, some had just frozen in mid step, not even being discrete enough to look abashed.

'What are you all looking at …? You heard the man. Show's over…'

As if taken out of a trance, everyone busied themselves back to work and noise buzzed about the room once again. A few others discreetly walked into Harry's office to get the unfinished paperwork from his desk.

All Derek could do was look around in amusement with a huge smile on his face.

'What a guy…'

_**To be continued…**_

**Author Notes (2): **Just remember, FanFiction authors are paid in reviews, not in cash. Although cash would be handy (for writing more stories that is…) Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far.


	5. Chapter 5

**Lay-Down-Harry**

_By Tom Kristal_

_

* * *

_**Standard Disclaimer: **All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) and are in no way connected with J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing or Warner Bros. The author of the following FanFiction does not in any way profit from the story and it is written solely for entertainment purposes only. Associated names, characters, places, items, and descriptions used in the following FanFiction are the copyrights and/or trademarks of the rightful owners. Rights to characters and their settings is neither claimed nor implied.

**Author Notes:** Well this is it. After a year (perhaps more) of thinking this story up. Writing it. Stop Writing. Doing something else. Write again. Get writers block. Give up. Write again. Begin major editing. Stop. Still stopping. Final edit. Beta check, to the final posting… (whew!) I never thought I would actually get this far. I would like to thank everyone for their contributions in reviewing this story. It may not seem much but it really makes my day when I see another review being posted up. It picks up my ego, see. Although I'm a little surprised that no-one has picked up the Red Dwarf hints throughout the story. Fifty points for the first person who guesses. Once again, special consideration and thanks to _'XTimeGirlX'_ who has taken the time to Beta this story for me. I'm not sure where I would be after all her help. Probably in a gutter somewhere… or berating myself for not finding a beta reader. Thank you all and enjoy!

* * *

**Lay-Down-Harry: **Chapter V

_All Derek could do was look around in amusement with a huge smile on his face._

_'__What a guy…'_

oOoO (Ginny's P.O.V.) OoOo

'POP'

A loud and audible cracking sound erupted along the terraced lane as a young couple, invisible to the neighbourhood residents, suddenly appeared on the paved sidewalk. The couple, being braced in a web of tangled arms and legs was not fully prepared for this apparent change in location and together, they ungracefully collapsed on the pavement floor outside their home of number 12 Grimmauld Place.

To Ginny, the familiar feeling of being turned into a sausage had winded her severely in the attempt to manhandle Harry across London. Unsurprisingly, Harry was resistant to most 'appropriate' forms of coercion and without blatantly shouting out in the middle of the Ministry her intentions with him, it was nearly impossible to force an experienced Auror to do anything. Nearly anything that is. Fortunately at that point, the Ministry had passed its peak hour point and the minority that remained ignored the sight of an entangled pair making their way from the elevator to the apparition point.

She hoped that _'cage-man'_ had choked in shock at the passing duo.

Intertwined together on the pavement floor, they both craned their heads towards the entranceway of the now well maintained home. From looking at the outside of the Georgian terraced house (still hidden from Muggles), you could tell the noticeable difference of what common care and maintenance provided. The once dark and daunting structure of several years ago now practically radiated with welcome. Mirroring the identical 17th century Muggle houses on either side, the once ancestral home of the illustrious Black family had been painstakingly renovated. From the panelled front door, to the windows that were capped with elaborate decorative pilasters, to the now unseen interior that been stripped bare and had began anew. It was cosy. It was theirs. It was home.

'Ginny! Why are we at home? I thought we were going to…'

'No questions, Mr. Potter' she commanded as she finally managed to disentangle herself from him and the cold pavement. Looking down at Harry,still slumped on the ground before her, she could see the flustered look in his eyes. Impatient, she all but dragged the larger Harry from the ground in a hurried command to 'Get a move on!'

Before Harry had even the chance to gape, she had clumsily wrapped one arm around his torso and pulled him forward head first into the polished door, knocking it wide open for entrance.

oOoOoOoOo

Barging thought the front entranceway, the ancient door opened with an ear piercing squeak and a loud audible bang permeated across the once silent hallway. As the front door opened and slammed into its adjacent wall, the chandelier and gas lamps briefly shook in protest and the lights flickered on and off momentarily.

Eerily, not a single scream could be heard from the late Walburga Black's portrait,where there was now nothing but a blank wall. Indeed, much like the missing portrait in the once 'Order of the Phoenix' headquarters, the dwelling had taken a dramatic transformation. Once teeming with dust and decay, it was now well furnished and homely without so much as a shrunken house-elf head or a troll's leg umbrella stand in sight. Not even a single dust-bunny was to be seen cascading onto the floor from hours of constant cleaning.

The unexpected vibrations however went unnoticed by the couple as Ginny continued with her vigorous attack on Harry and forced him through the front door with both arms. Before the door even began to close again, Ginny latched herself onto his shoulder, dragging him down into another deep kiss.

Unbeknownst to both of them, an extremely old house elf by the name of Kreacher had arrived to greet the unexpected guests. Eyes widening at the fortification being presented to by half the street, he went and silently closed the door and awaited instructions.

'Master and Mistress. Kreacher sees you're home earl…'

But before he had even a chance to complete his sentence, a well-used Wizarding robe and a thick brown overcoat suddenly dropped from above and unceremoniously landed on poor Kreacher's head, drowning him in the blackness of clothing and smothering him in the smell of human sweat and women's perfume.

A little annoyed but not entirely surprised by the mannerisms of his strange master and future mistress, he slowly crawled his way out of the pile to contemplate reprimanding the inconsiderate couple. But instead of finding his master and future mistress however, he found nothing but himself and a trail of garments hap-hazardly scattered up the stairway and into the following hall. Loud bangs and cries of pain could be heard as the loud couple stumbled and tripped themselves up the several-story building.

In exasperation, Kreacher let out a sigh and muttered under his breath,

'Kreacher is getting too old for this, he is…'

oOoOoOoOo

Another loud crash erupted as a half-dressed Ginny and Harry bumbled into the master bedroom in a tangle of arms and legs.

Behind them, forgotten clothes and several ornate decorations were left scattered on the floor. Several of these items lay broken and in disrepair due to the hazardous effort of making it up three flights of stairs and down several narrow hallways.

Not even bothering to check the door as it noisily closed behind them, Ginny manoeuvred the pair towards the base of the bed. Still clutching onto one another for dear life, she moved one of her legs underneath Harry's right knee and pushed forward. With a yelp and a springy squeak, the randy couple landed on the bed.

Through the unexpected fall onto the bed, a heavily confused and aroused Harry somehow managed to pry his lips away from Ginny in exasperation.

'Gin, wait! What about..?'

Instead of replying, Ginny grabbed him by the head for another heated kiss in order to shut him the hell up.

Flustered and thrown off due to Ginny's sudden cockiness about the matter, Harry didn't know what was going on. Despite the pleasantness of his current situation, he wanted to know what had brought this on. And for whatever reason, it seemed vitally important he found out.

For Harry to pry himself away again, it seemed almost a battle of wills as he attempted to speak to Ginny and she attempted to remove every scrap of clothing from both their bodies.

'Gin, what's this about..?'

_Kiss_.

'The burrow….'

_Kiss__._

'…Expecting us'

_Kiss. Kiss._

'Oh god… Don't stop….'

_Kiss__._

'Don't we…'

'HARRY!' Ginny sighed in exasperation. She looked down at him annoyingly, prying her flustered head away from Harry for the first time in several minutes.

Barely clad in clothing, he was trapped beneath her in a vice grip as her powerful hips (gained through hours of vigorous Quidditch training) straddled him. Harry's lips were puffed and slightly blue which contrasted from the deep-red love blemishes covering his neck and chest. If she hadn't known better, she would have assumed he had just been attacked by a vicious creature.

_Maybe he had._

In hindsight, she knew she probably wasn't much better herself, but she wanted to savour her conquest. Harry looked up at her with those gorgeous green eyes of his, and as usual they flashed a million emotions through them. Looking flustered, bemused, turned-on and perhaps a little scared, Harry lay still as an eternity passed with them simply looking at each other.

Another wave of desire flashed through Ginny, looking at the man she loved with all her heart: The man who was always more than a name. The man she wanted to spend the rest of eternity with. The man that was hers...

She grinned.

'Shut up, and lay down, Harry'.

Trapped beneath her, there really only was one thing he could do. So with his trademark grin, he broke the silence and replied in equal mischief.

'Yes Ma'am…'

_**Finite Incantatem.**_

**Author Notes (2): **Point of interest, there is just one teeny-weeny appendix I will be adding in the next few days. It is not an epilogue, but something you may appreciate. Till next time.


	6. Appendix

**Lay-Down-Harry **(the Lyrics)

_By Tom Kristal

* * *

_

**Standard Disclaimer: **All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) and are in no way connected with J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing or Warner Bros. The author of the following FanFiction does not in any way profit from the story and it is written solely for entertainment purposes only. Associated names, characters, places, items, and descriptions used in the following FanFiction are the copyrights and/or trademarks of the rightful owners. Rights to characters and their settings is neither claimed nor implied.

**Author Notes:** (See below for more details)

* * *

**Lay-Down-Harry**

By Tom Kristal _(abbreviated lyrics by Eric Clapton - Lay down Sally)_

There is nothing that is wrong,

In knowing that your crime was found by me.

I know you've got somewhere to go,

But you must get your mind out of that reverie.

Because you can never leave...

_**Chorus**_

_Lay down Harry; put that wand down at your feet._

_Another curse at me, ain't gonna help you._

_Lay down Harry, no need to leave so soon._

_Because the Boy-who-lived has got his wand pointed right at you._

The sun ain't nearly on the rise,

And here you are at your cell, alone with me.

You have got nowhere else to go,

Your time is nearly up. Don't ever bother trying to escape from me.

Because you can never leave...

_**Chorus**_

You may long to see the morning light,

Instead all the happiness drains from you, eternally.

Why don't you go and say goodbye,

Your crime has doomed you to stay at Azkaban, indefinitely.

Because you can never leave...

_**Chorus**_

_**Chorus**_

_**Finite Incantatem.**_

**Author Notes (2):** When I said earlier in the story that were lyrics as well… I wasn't kidding! The truth behind the story is that I conjured up this concept originally with the song: 'Lay-Down-Sally' by Eric Clapton. I was simply listening to the album and I heard this song… and the idea arose. Funny how we think of the strangest ideas occur at the oddest of times. And like any good idea, I ran with it and thus resulted the story from the previous chapter. Seeing how the magic of music had influenced me into writing this story, it was only fair that I should share with you the song that I came up with. Normally I dislike song-stories, which is why it isn't a part of the actual plot. But to be technical, I actually wrote this song before I wrote the actual story. I apologise formally for the poor substituted lyrics. It's hard to mangle such a classic song. Yet somehow I managed it. At the very least... it's a somewhat good laugh. You're laughing, right? With me not at me, right? Don't laugh to hide away the tears… that's just mean.

Point of interest, the theme to this story is about a subject I believe is haphazardly mentioned in J.K. Rowling's books. Harry explains it the best, but if you look carefully, I left a few hint along the way. Fifty points again who knows which Red Dwarf reference I used.

I would like to thank everyone for their reviews and their support. This is my longest story so far and is to this point my most reviewed. Cheers for all those whom did review. You're all legends in my book. Once again, special consideration and thanks to _'XTimeGirlX'_ who has taken the time to Beta this story for me. I'm not sure where I would be after all her help. Probably in a gutter somewhere… or berating myself for not finding a beta reader. This story was brought to you by the number '12' and the letter 'Z'. See you next time everybody. ~Tom Kristal


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